The best of intents does nobody any good unless acted upon. The same goes for issues that needs resolved. Protests, demonstrations, marches, rallies and agitations provides a means of raising social and political issues and flaws that needs to be addressed in time. Protests have a remarkable emotional appeal – often morally persuasive and deeply moving. Yet they can also be disappointing, with the immediacy and vitality of the protest often challenged and sometimes marked by the reassertion of existing authority.
In an article reflecting on ‘The Alchemy of Protest’, Christian Caryl points out that the power of demonstrations lies in the overtly public nature of the challenge that they pose. On the same breadth, it must be understood that protests are not, and should not be considered the means to obtain or achieve the stated objective or goal. Protests create space for discussions and deliberations on the issues and objections raised by the participants. A more objective view of protests should be one where it is treated as a catalyst for the change and a point of initiation of public dialogues, discussions and negotiations.
The turmoil across the nation against the CAA is a serious issue, which the central government should understand . However, the protest against the idea of CAA is not similar across the nation. The protest seen here in North East State is different from those at other part of the country. The issue with the CAA with NE states is not about Hindus or Muslim , it is all about protecting the indigenous native people. We the citizen here in this part irrespective of what profession they hold should equally understand their responsibility as it is about the future of this region.
Well, as for the state of Manipur, after the enactment of ILP under the BEFR, the CAA has been exempted. But if certain part of the NE region are not exempted than the ILP will not be able to protect the state from illegal influx despite being exempted from CAA. We all know that there has been already many illegal migrants dissolved in the state of Manipur before CAA. In states like Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh where ILPS is enforced the outsiders numbers became a threat to the respective states. These outsiders do not seem to be from Indian states but mostly from neighbouring countries who entered with Indian mask. The entire NE needs to be united for the common cause of protecting the native people. And the NRC should be done in all the NE states by exempting the CAA.